Several puppets flew out and absorbed the flames into their special mouthparts, resolving the trouble. Ebizo looked at Orochimaru atop the large snake and said, "This assassination has failed. There's no point in lingering. Smoke Screen!"
The puppets spat out a smoke screen, blocking their vision. Ebizo and his men took the opportunity to disappear.
"Did they escape? Old foxes are really hard to deal with. Ebizo is indeed formidable."
Orochimaru shook his head and told the surrounding vigilant ninjas to disperse. There would be no more trouble tonight.
Compared to his sister Chiyo, who was an action - oriented person, Ebizo was even more difficult to handle. He was the type who could formulate strategies through careful consideration and throw the opponent into chaos. He possessed outstanding intelligence and was a very tough ninja. This had been proven in the past two Shinobi World Wars.
There were not many ninjas in the five major ninja villages who had participated in two ninja wars and remained unharmed.
If it weren't for Yuhi Shinku's team uncovering this plot, Orochimaru might have suffered a setback this time.
He ordered people to deal with the bodies of those Sunagakure ninjas and send them back to the village. After arranging the duty shifts and sending someone to welcome Yuhi Shinku and the others, he went to rest.
By early morning, Yuhi Shinku brought Seisuke and the others to the camp. Learning that the sneak attack by Sunagakure had failed, they heaved a sigh of relief. After telling Seisuke and the others to rest well, Yuhi Shinku went to report to Orochimaru.
Seisuke slept until noon. Feeling uncomfortable all over, he was informed to go to the command tent with Kurenai and Asuma. He immediately dragged the two of them along.
Orochimaru was sitting inside, formulating plans with several Konoha jonin.
Seeing Seisuke's arrival, Orochimaru nodded and said, "Seisuke - kun, there's a mission for your team."
"Isn't Teacher Shinku coming?"
"He has other tasks. This is Sarutobi Shinnosuke. He'll be your temporary leader. Shinnosuke, I'll leave the leading to you."
A man with thick hair, a bit similar to Asuma... a bearded man nodded and said, "Leave it to me."
"Big brother!" Asuma exclaimed.
This bearded man was Asuma's elder brother, the eldest son of the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, Sarutobi Shinnosuke.
Shinnosuke sighed. His little brother was still a bit immature. He said, "Follow me. I'll explain the details of the mission to you."
He led the three out of the tent and said as they walked, "Due to the sudden attack by Sunagakure, the Fire Country has lost a large number of strategic locations. Our top priority now is to drive the Sunagakure ninjas out of the Fire Country."
Due to the sudden attack of Sunagakure, Konoha had almost been defeated in the early stage of the war. The enemy had invaded the country, and they had lost a lot of territory. Orochimaru's primary task was to counter - attack and regain the lost land. Other matters could be dealt with later.
He took out a map of the Fire Country with many red dots marked on it. Shinnosuke said, "The red - dotted areas are the territories we've lost. The task of our team today is for me to lead you to capture this town."
"Just the four of us?" Seisuke asked in surprise.
"Of course."
Sarutobi Shinnosuke said, "We've investigated the number of Sunagakure ninjas stationed in this town. There are two ninja teams in total, including three puppet masters, one medical ninja, and the other four are ordinary Sunagakure ninjas."
"I'll be in charge of the feint attack, and you'll carry out the assassination. Kill as many as you can. But if possible, it's best to capture the medical ninja alive."
The poisons of Sunagakure were very harmful to Konoha. Capturing a medical ninja might be of some help.
"Yes."
"Asuma, Kurenai, you'll be under Seisuke's command. Cooperate with him to capture the medical ninja alive."
"Yes."
Shinnosuke assigned the tasks and led the three towards the nearby town.
On the way, Asuma asked, "Big brother, are you going to deal with a whole team of ninjas alone?"
His big brother's task was to draw fire, at least against the combat power of a team. Although he had confidence in his big brother's strength, it was still a whole team of ninjas.
"That's right. What? Don't you have faith in me?"
"Not at all."
"Then there's nothing to worry about." Shinnosuke said in a deep voice, "Father has sent us to the battlefield, so we must act according to the plan. Lord Orochimaru's plan is sound. As long as we don't make mistakes, we can quickly drive the Sunagakure ninjas out of the Fire Country."
"I know, I know." Asuma replied a bit irritably.
Shinnosuke didn't say much more. On the way, he told them to pay attention to some things and informed them that Yuhi Shinku had formed a temporary team with other jonin and chunin to capture an important town.
The town they were going to capture was much simpler than Yuhi Shinku's mission.
At this time, Seisuke asked, "So, is it to drive Sunagakure out of the Fire Country and start the war in the River Country?"
"Oh? You noticed?" Shinnosuke looked at Seisuke in surprise. He didn't expect Seisuke to see this far. Then he said, "Indeed, the current task is to recover the lost land and move the large - scale battlefront to the River Country between the Wind Country and the Fire Country. The higher - ups have designated the battlefield over there."
Anyway, it wasn't their own land, so they didn't care how much it was damaged. The Rain Country, which was located at the junction of the Fire, Wind, and Earth countries, was in a similar situation back then.
"I understand."
Seisuke knew that the final battle between Konoha and Sunagakure would be at Kikyō Mountain, and Kikyō Mountain was in the River Country.
However, the Battle of Kikyō Mountain might have severely weakened Konoha. After all, in the Iwagakure battlefield during the Battle of Kannabi Bridge, only Minato's team was sent to support from Konoha.
The Third Kazekage was missing, and now Chiyo and her brother Ebizo were in charge of Sunagakure. Chiyo hated Konoha deeply because of past grudges. She might even fight Konoha to a mutual defeat.
Coupled with the fact that the Kirigakure battlefield was filled with mediocre opponents, it was not difficult to see that Konoha's main combat power was focused on the fronts against Sunagakure and Kumogakure.
This was very dangerous!
A cold sweat trickled down. Thinking about it now, the battlefield against Sunagakure was the most perilous. He had to survive.
Under Shinnosuke's lead, they arrived at the town occupied by the Sunagakure ninjas.
Shinnosuke said, "See that bell tower? According to the intelligence, that's where the Sunagakure ninjas gather, and the medical ninja is among them. I'll draw them away, and you go and capture the medical ninja. If you can't capture him, then kill him. I'll hold them off."
They looked over. On the bell tower, two Sunagakure ninjas were observing the situation in the town.
"Understood!"
They nodded. Shinnosuke said, "Alright, I'm counting on you. I'll take care of that team of ninjas as quickly as possible." With that, he rushed out, not hiding himself at all. Since he was to draw fire, being ostentatious was normal.
Seeing this, Seisuke said, "Alright, it's our turn to act."
The three of them immediately blended into the town.